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Classic climb: Col du Portillon, the Pyrenean climb that’s more than just a sidekick
It’s 417km in a straight line across the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. The Franco-Spanish border, for the most part, follows the highest line of mountains, which must have seemed entirely logical when it was formalised in 1659. Consequently, the boundary line itself runs for 656km.
Along that distance, there are only six high passes between the two nations, plus one more into Andorra. Of those, the Col du Portillon is the lowest, peaking at a modest 1,293m. Hardly a claim to fame. Its official average gradient of 6.6% doesn’t sound particularly epic either. So why are we here?
Do not judge the Col du Portillon by the stats but by the company it keeps. Its numbers alone might leave you unimpressed and reluctant to include it on your hit list. To omit this col would be to miss out though, because it’s an achingly pretty climb in an area packed with top-tier riding. Its close neighbours include the Col de Peyresourde and the mighty Superbagnères, which returns to the Tour de France this year.
The Tour is also a regular visitor to the Portillon (pronouned port-ee-on). The race has crossed it 20 times, lured by the novelty of a brief visit into Spain in one direction and the descent into perennial stage host town Bagnères-de-Luchon in the other. In fact, of the 17 times the race has passed the col from Spain into France, nine have been heading to a finish in Luchon, including the most recent appearance in 2018.
On that day, Britain’s Adam Yates led over the top and looked well placed to take his first Grand Tour stage win, but it wasn’t to be. Under the pressure of pursuing demon descender Julian Alaphilippe, Yates crashed on a switchback. He remounted quickly, but not quickly enough. Alaphilippe won the stage, his second within a week, confirming his transformation through 2018 from super-talent to superstar.
From zero to hero
From the French side, as featured here, the Col du Portillon makes a low-key debut before announcing itself more emphatically. The official start of the climb is right on the edge of town. Unlike, for example, Alpe d’Huez, which immediately kicks up steeply like a staircase, the Col du Portillon eases you in with a mild opening, more like that of Luz Ardiden.
As always that is a double-edged sword, because what seems like a friendly beginning for legs that are probably cold from being sat in one of Luchon’s many cafes only leaves you with more of the climbing to do later.
A seam in the asphalt after 1km marks the transition point, where the Portillon stops hiding behind the everyman disguise of its mild stats, takes off its glasses and reveals its superhero alter ego. The gradient kicks up and then kicks up some more, breaking into double-digits and hovering around that point for the next kilometre until that rhythm is disrupted by a pair of tight switchbacks. Then it resumes once more.
There’s little sense of where you’re heading. Whereas the Col du Tourmalet from Luz-Saint-Sauveur is flanked on both sides by two huge lines of peaks, funnelling you towards a summit that can be seen from the base and giving you around two hours in which to contemplate your suffering and question your life choices, the Portillon gives you little option other than to be in the moment.
For the most part, the climb is surrounded by dense trees. When they part a little, or the road straightens sufficiently to give a view ahead, there is no obvious summit on which to focus. If you have your head on a swivel, and it’s a clear day, you might be treated to views back to the iconic summit of Superbagnères, which dominates the Luchon skyline.
If you climb Superbagnères during the same trip – and you absolutely should – then you can enjoy the same view in reverse. From there, Portillon, 500m below and to the east, looks like a small hill with a footpath running over it, so imperceptible is the road among the thick forest. It is nonetheless enticing.
If you are combining several climbs out of Luchon into one ride, it’s worth noting their orientation to the sun. From the town, the Col de Peyresourde faces east and is quite exposed so it gets the sun in the morning; the Col du Portillon faces west, gets the sun much later, and has generous shade from the trees, so ride it early on hot days to beat the heat and in the afternoon on cooler days.
Break for the border
Just before halfway up the Portillon, around a righthand bend, the road at once straightens and flattens out for around 700m. If you’re chasing a time, or your friends, you’ll need to get your head down and think aero to maximise your speed, but more likely this is a chance to recover. You’ll be glad of it too, because the remaining 4km averages 9% and is unrelenting.
The road’s sinuous flow pauses for two further pairs of tight switchbacks – drum breaks in a jazz jam – to ratchet you further up the mountain. The final 1.5km stiffens to 10% and unless you’re watching the profile on your computer there’s little clue that you’re nearing the top – not from the scenery, which remains enveloping, nor from roadside signs, which are not installed every kilometre in the departement of Haute-Garonne like they are in the neighbouring Hautes-Pyrénées.
A huge horseshoe-shaped left leads into the final hairpin. Then, rounding a bend of gentle radius but gruesome gradient, the summit suddenly comes into view just 60m away. For being below the treeline, the summit is less dramatic, perhaps less rewarding, than that of its taller neighbours.
We would posit that this is outweighed by the novelty of the border crossing and by the various routes into which you can build it on rides from Luchon. The Vuelta a España, like the Tour, agrees, having crossed the border here eight times.
The summit and border are denoted by a stone marker, low-key, faded and adorned with graffiti. Here you can pause, one wheel in France, one in Spain, before dropping into the country of your choosing. Whichever language they speak at the bottom, it will be a great descent.
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